My friend and colleague Sam Richmond, a former consultant at City Hospitals Sunderland, has died aged 62 after a long illness. Sam, who retired in 2011, was appointed as a consultant in neonatology at Sunderland Royal hospital in 1988 and single-handedly set about delivering a high-quality neonatal intensive-care service within the city. During his 23 years in the post, he cared for some of the most premature and sickest infants. This necessitated long hours of work and immediate availability for critically ill babies. Sam and his team never allowed a lack of resources or money to prevent them delivering the best care available.
Staff considered him to be "married to the job" so it was a surprise to many when, in January of this year, he married Liz. When he did take holidays he often travelled to Palestine and Bangladesh to teach newborn life support. He had a strong desire to provide a pragmatic neonatal service to babies born in developing countries.
Sam created and established a neonatal life-support course so that junior doctors could be trained in the essential skills of resuscitation before they began work. He introduced this concept to northern European countries and they have adopted this form of training. He developed the role of nurse practitioners within Sunderland as he believed that nurses with enhanced training could achieve much of what junior doctors could do. Sam did painstaking work in the area of perinatal morbidity and the development of cerebral palsy, and along with a colleague produced an annotated neonatal formulary that is now used nationally.
Sam was born in London, spent some of his early life in the Middle East and was educated in Carlisle and Yorkshire. He always avoided public recognition and preferred to do the "day job", ensuring the neonatal unit was safe and that he was available to the babies who required his attention. His strong political views about the Middle East were represented through the various badges he is fondly remembered for wearing. He was a man of great intelligence and kindness.
He is survived by Liz, and his sisters, Sophie, Emma and Sally.